In a way, Pirx is as an ordinary "working man" who unlike traditional heroic space pilots has little if anything heroic about him. He sometimes finds himself in extreme situations, which he overcomes mostly through ordinary common sense and average luck. In particular, in the story The Inquest, Lem puts forth the idea that what is perceived a human weakness is in fact an advantage over a perfect machine. In this tale Pirx defeats the robot, because a human can hesitate, make wrong decisions, have doubts, but a robot cannot.

Tales of Pirx the Pilot

• "The Test"
• "The Conditioned Reflex"
• "On Patrol"
• "The Albatross"
• "Terminus"

More Tales of Pirx the Pilot

• "The Hunt"
• "Pirx's Tale"
• "The Accident"
• "The Inquest"; for plot summary, see Test pilota Pirxa, a 1978 film
• "Ananke"

The Hunt for Setaur

Russian title -> Latvian title - English title (Polish title)

• Испытание -> Pārbaudījums - "The Test" (Test)
• Условный рефлекс -> Nosacītais reflekss - "The Conditioned Reflex" (Odruch warunkowy)
• Патруль -> Patruļa - "On Patrol" (Patrol )
• Альбатрос -> «Albatross» - "The Albatross" (Albatros)
• Терминус -> Terminuss - "Terminus" (Terminus )